REPORT AND

RECOMMENDATIONS
OF THE
CITIZENS’ COMMISSION
ON JOBS, DEFICITS
AND AMERICA’S
ECONOMIC FUTURE

F
O
R
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The Citizens’ Commission
on JobS, Deficits and
America’s Economic Future

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The United States continues to suffer the aftereffects of the worst economic recession since the Great
Depression, triggered by a financial crisis whose causes were ignored or made worse by elite policymakers
for decades. Today, more than 25 million Americans who are ready and willing can’t find full-time work.
Personal wealth has declined sharply, creating an especially uncertain future for people approaching
retirement age. Confidence is down for both consumers and businesses, which prevents sustained
economic growth.
At the same time, largely due to the severity of the recent recession, a federal government that enjoyed
record surpluses just 10 years ago now faces record deficits that are spreading alarm and confusion across
the land. Moreover, this severe downturn comes after a decade that featured the worst job creation in the
post-war period, declining wages for most Americans, weaker unions confronted by employer attacks on
rights to organize, continued decay of basic infrastructure, an ongoing crisis in public education, record
trade deficits and job loss abroad, and extreme inequality.
Despite the ongoing pain that unemployment is still inflicting on individuals and families, despite the slow
growth in demand that is hurting small business, despite the wrenching
budget crisis hitting most state governments, and despite the longer
term decline that can no longer be ignored, the debate in Washington
is now dominated by conservative cries for immediate reduction of the
O ne voice has been
conspicuously absent
federal deficit. Several elite “commissions”—two privately financed, and from most discussion of
one created by the president and Congress—have effectively shifted the deficits—that of the American
attention of the media to deficits as the primary focus for public action.
people.
One voice has been conspicuously absent from most discussion of
deficits—that of the American people. Polls have shown that the
public’s opinion and that of many leading economists are surprisingly well aligned. The public agrees
with economists who warn that deficit reduction must be performed judiciously, without restricting
government’s ability to create jobs and without damaging needed social programs. Both agree that that we
must make investments vital to reviving America’s long-term prospects.
The Citizen’s Commission on Jobs, Deficits and America’s Economic Future was created to offer proposals
that can return our economy to healthy, sustainable growth, while taking action to reduce deficits and debt
in a way that enhances the future well-being of the American people. And since the conventional wisdom
is so dominated by a relatively narrow range of opinions, it is our intention that this document will elicit

This report was written by Jeff Madrick, a member of the Commission and Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute –
with contributions from Roger Hickey, Robert Borosage and Richard Eskow of the Institute for America’s Future, Dean
Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect and Demos, and
Robert Pollin of the Political Economy Research Institute, with additional work by other members of the commission.

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media coverage of an alternative point of view—and that its recommendations will be widely discussed by
civic and business and labor leaders in communities all across the nation.
This commission has two major priorities. The first is to assure that the U.S. economy recovers fully and
returns to a fast track of growth. This is the right way to reduce the current high deficit. The second is long-
term public investment in sustainable growth, ensuring a healthy economy that can generate adequate
revenue for needed public services. We have outlined three key principles that any plan for growth and
deficit reduction must follow:
„„ Grow the economy. Don’t kill growth and jobs in the name of deficit reduction.
„„ Target what truly drives deficits. Don’t fix what isn’t broken.
„„ Invest in future sustainable growth while balancing our national accounts.
These are not just moral imperatives. They are economic prerequisites for successful deficit reduction.
Causes of Current and Future Deficits
Much if not most of the current public discourse is misleading and poorly informed.
The federal deficit tripled between 2008 and 2009, reaching $1.5 trillion and 10 percent of GDP in 2009.
This was the culmination of a process that began with the passage of the first Bush tax cuts, accelerated
with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and peaked with the economic collapse of 2008. It therefore
follows that any reasonable short-term plan should focus the causes of our current deficit. Yet most of the
measures currently being debated fail to do so. Despite the role that tax cuts played in creating today’s
deficits, many such plans would lower taxes for the wealthiest Americans while increasing them for the
middle class. They would also restrict government efforts to bring us out of our current economic crisis,
weakening the economy and reducing future government revenues.
Future deficits will be driven almost exclusively by the explosive growth in health care costs. Those
who advocate for increased austerity are failing to address the true causes of government spending.
Furthermore, there is no evidence that implementing policies to reduce government deficit would increase
private spending. As we note (see Appendix I), there is ample evidence that such spending cuts would
create more unemployment, making a second recession possible and even likely.
The Lesson of 1937
The nation has been at a similar juncture before. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal reduced unemployment
from 25 percent to 10 percent in three years, but he was then pressured to reduce spending before the
economy was fully stabilized. The result was another sharp increase in unemployment and a weakened
economy that only improved when the nation entered World War II.
Then, as now, government spending was one of many legitimate policy concerns. Then, as now, previous
government efforts had shown signs of success. President Obama’s stimulus program created an estimated
3.5 million jobs and would have created more had it been larger. As in 1937, the nation’s economy remains
fragile and the recovery is not yet complete. More investment is needed. Premature austerity would be as
unwise and counterproductive now as it was then. Plus a nascent and struggling “recovery” is not sufficient
given the decline of the last decade. Premature austerity would terminate any possibility of building a new
foundation for growth and shared prosperity.
Though weak growth returned by 1934, unemployment was still stuck above 12 percent on the eve of
World War II. It was the massive wartime deficits, (peaking at 28 percent of GDP compared to less than 9
percent today) that finally produced strong recovery.

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Postwar leaders, unlike today’s deficit hawks, were wise enough not to panic about the large war debt
(twice today’s size relative to the economy) but continued such public investments as the G.I. bill, low-
interest home loans, and the interstate highway system. Rather than suffering an austerity scheme that
would have made debt loom larger, the postwar boom enabled the economy to grow its way out of debt.
Government Investment Still Works
Today’s deficit debate often fails to recognize a critical fact: The Obama stimulus of 2009 helped stop
the recession—and reduced the level of future deficits. The lesson learned in 1937 is still true today:
Government intervention works. And it should not be ended prematurely.
The $800 billion Obama stimulus package of early 2009—the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act—serves as perhaps the strongest recent proof of this statement. The package consisted of a wide array
of spending programs, from expanding unemployment insurance to aid to the states to investments in
traditional infrastructure projects and the green economy. Roughly one third of the package was devoted
to tax cuts. A handful of economists still insist the stimulus was ineffective or even harmful because it
raised deficits. The facts are unambiguously otherwise. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office
modeled the consequences in May 2010 and found that the stimulus will raise the level of gross domestic
product significantly into 2012. The CBO produced high and low estimates. In fiscal year 2011, for
example, it estimated that the stimulus will increase GDP between 0.7

T he lesson learned in percent and 2.2 percent. It will reduce unemployment by between 0.5
percent and 1.4 percent. It also concluded that because the economy
1937 is still true today: is running so far below potential, there will be little if any increase in
Government intervention works. interest rates—that is, little or no crowding out.1 A Wall Street Journal
survey found that 75 percent of economists agreed the stimulus resulted
And it should not be ended in more growth and less unemployment.
prematurely. In addition, no respectable economic model shows that the Obama
stimulus, composed both of tax cuts and spending programs, will add
more than marginally to the long-term budget deficit. To the contrary,
one widely cited model showed that it will reduce the deficit in coming years. Former Federal Reserve
chairman Alan Blinder and Moody’s Analytics economist Mark Zandi (an adviser to the presidential
campaign of John McCain) found that the Obama fiscal stimulus package raised the federal budget deficit
in fiscal year 2010, but will lower it substantially in both fiscal years 2011 and 2012.
In conclusion, the government stimulus programs ended the freefall of the economy. Without these
policies—fiscal, monetary as well as government bailouts and guarantees—Blinder and Zandi estimated
that the recession would have deepened into 2011 and the unemployment rate would have peaked at 16.5
percent rather than roughly 10 percent. The federal budget deficit would have equaled $2 trillion in fiscal
year 2011, some 15 percent of GDP, rather than the 7 or 8 percent now likely. But the recovery programs
were not sufficient to raise the nation out of a prolonged period of stagnation, with persistent high
unemployment. And it was countered directly by the cuts in state and local spending required by their
balanced-budget requirements.
It has become clear in retrospect—and some argued it from the outset—that the Obama stimulus was not
nearly enough. Another weakness was that the portion devoted to tax cuts had little stimulative impact.
Given the political circumstances, it would have been difficult at the time to produce a more focused
package. On the other hand, when a strong recovery did not materialize, the Obama administration could
have started developing and championing another growth package. It did not.
1 Congressional Budget Office, “Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment
and Economic Output” (2010), available at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/115xx/doc11525/05-25-ARRA.pdf.

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Overview of Recommendations
This report of the Citizen’s Commission on Jobs, Deficits and America’s Economic Future puts forward
a set of proposals that would protect and accelerate the economic recovery while achieving a stable but
sustainable level of debt by 2015. It reduces debt to a manageable level while at the same time providing
a strong program of government investment that will create jobs and ensure ongoing growth. Our plan
achieves that goal without cutting Social Security or capping or “voucherizing” Medicare (as many
conservative proposals do). It provides immediate efforts to support economic growth, substantial
investments vital to the strength of our economy, cuts to federal wasteful spending and a variety of
measures to increase revenues.
An important note: Any plan to substantially reduce the federal deficit should be deferred until
unemployment has dropped to an acceptable level, which we have defined as 5.5 percent. Our plan is no
exception. Our recommended changes to the 2015 budget should only be implemented if unemployment
has reached that level. We believe it will if our short-term investment recommendations are adopted.
Our recommendations are based on the following principles:
Address the current economic crisis first. Before engaging in widespread deficit reduction efforts, we
must institute a program of short-term targeted spending to restart the economy and sustained investment

T
to begin to support longer-term growth. Key among the former is aid
his plan provides
to the states, whose constitutionally mandated budget austerity is not
immediate efforts only inflicting painful cuts in social services but also creating a huge
and destructive drag on the national economy. We also must pursue
to support economic growth,
innovative monetary and credit market policies to move roughly
substantial investments vital to $2 trillion in idle cash hoards now held by banks and non-financial
corporations into productive job-creating private investments.
the strength of our economy, cuts
Tax justice and empowered workers generate prosperity, fairness,
to federal wasteful spending and
growth—and revenues. Tax cuts were a major cause of our current
a variety of measures to increase deficit. Any plan that continues or increases tax breaks for the wealthy
will add to the deficit. In an era of excessive inequality, we should end
revenues.
Bush era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, tax capital gains and
dividends as normal income, tax activities damaging to our economy
like excessive financial speculation, and eliminate or reduce tax
expenditures that mainly benefit the wealthy.
To ensure ongoing prosperity, we must also provide ongoing tax relief for lower- and middle-income
households. These households will spend, not save, the additional income. We must also take steps to
reduce the war on unions and worker rights (involving corporate action and misguided public policy) that
has been a major factor in preventing working from getting their share of productivity growth over the
past three decades. Lower taxes and higher wages for working families will generate consumer activity that
leads to more growth, more jobs, and more tax revenue.
Reduce wasteful government spending without compromising public objectives. Spending cuts
are needed, but we increase, not decrease investments in areas vital to our future, and insure that any
adjustment not worsen already extreme inequality. We must eliminate spending that is unneeded or
wasteful, reduce obsolete and unneeded military spending, and make prudent cuts in government
expenditures that are not vital to its core mission.
Protect and strengthen Social Security. Social Security retirement benefits are the main source of income

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for most retirees, and most of this income is spent rather than saved. This leads to growth and jobs without
adding to the deficit, since Social Security is funded separately. We must remove Social Security from
“deficit cutting” exercises, increase its revenues, provide modest benefit increases, and assure the public
that its $2.6 trillion in trust fund assets will not be used for other purposes.
Establish realistic and sustainable long-term deficit goals. Any long-term deficit plan deficit must be
politically sustainable, fiscally sound, and not impose unacceptable levels of hardship. We recommend a
short-term period of imperative recovery expenditures. We seek a gradual reduction in the deficit-to-GDP
ratio over the coming decade. We recommend an annual deficit target of 3 percent of GDP as a medium
term goal once recovery comes. This could be achieved as early as 2015—if the economy recovers, and
if we don’t choke off that recovery with premature deficit reduction. We are skeptical of targeting a date
certain independent of the condition of the economy. The test of when to aim for that 3 percent deficit
target is whether unemployment has come down to 5.5 percent. Such a target, over the long term, will
enable us to stabilize the level of debt as a proportion of GDP at sustainable levels, because with high
employment GDP will be growing faster than the debt
Restore the financial sector’s role as an effective engine of growth. The banking industry used
government-provided economic advantages to engage in reckless speculation, leading to the current
crisis. Banks continue to receive “discount money” and other government support without adequately
performing their traditional economic role as lenders. The financial industry has recaptured a high and
economically unhealthy percentage of the nation’s profits. We recommend a financial transactions tax
and programs to encourage increased bank lending in a responsible manner both to ensure our current
recovery and to promote long-term stability.
The recently enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act does include several
important features that could succeed in encouraging long-term financial stability. These include the so-
called “Volcker rule” prohibiting proprietary trading by large banks, the requirement that all derivatives
trading be conducted on regulated exchanges, careful oversight of public credit rating agencies, and the
creation of a Consumer Financial Protection bureau. However, details on the implementation of Dodd-
Frank have been left to the discretion of various regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Reserve and the
Securities and Exchange Commission. This creates enormous opportunities for the banking industry
to weaken the effectiveness of the new regulatory system. To rebuild a healthy economy, focused on
channeling our enormous financial resources into productive investments and job creation, it is imperative
that all the main provisions of Dodd-Frank be strongly enforced immediately and over time.
Address the health-care cost crisis. Alarming long-term projections of growing debt come almost
completely from uncontrolled growth in health care costs. We do not have an entitlement crisis; we
have an unaffordable health care system. Rather than capping, cutting or “voucherizing” Medicare or
Medicaid, we need continued health care reforms that control costs through changes to the structure of
the medical economy—such as the immediate establishment of a robust public option plan available to
all Americans, direct government negotiation of drug prices, and thorough additional cost-cutting and
quality improvement measures.
Who We Are
The Citizen’s Commission is comprised of economic policy experts, such as former Secretary of Labor
Robert Reich, Jeff Madrick and economists Dean Baker, Robert Pollin and Heidi Hartman, and former
members of the House and Senate. But perhaps most importantly, many of its members are leaders of
national organizations with enormous reach into American communities, from labor leaders such as
Larry Cohen and Mary Kay Henry to coordinators of national organizing networks such as Deepak
Bhargava, Angela Glover Blackwell, as well as other leaders whose work engages the grassroots public in
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debates about the economic direction of our country. The commission was organized by the Campaign
for America’s Future, which has led nationwide public organizing campaigns around the future of Social
Security, health care, green jobs and the future of manufacturing.
Note: Our Citizens’ Commission was inspired to action in part to challenge the one-sided media coverage
lavished on the Simpson-Bowles National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, the Pew-
Peterson Commission on Budget Reform and the Bipartisan Policy Center Debt Reduction Task Force.
Our deliberations were also informed by recent work by the Economic Policy Institute, especially their
report, America’s Economy: A Budget Blueprint for Economic Recovery and Fiscal Responsibility,
published by Demos, EPI and The Century Foundation on November 29, 2010. As does our commission,
this report outlines policy changes to achieve job growth, long-term public investment and outlines a
deficit reduction plan that achieves primary fiscal balance by 2018.
We were also both educated and inspired by the recent set of proposals put forward by a member of the
president’s fiscal responsibility commission, Representative Jan Schakowsky. In the best tradition of the
great democratic debates, Rep Schakowsky’s plan presents a way to reduce the federal deficit without
making middle-class Americans foot the bill. Schakowsky’s plan is an alternative to the Bowles-Simpson
plan and would reduce the deficit by $441 billion in 2015, surpassing President Obama’s $250 billion
target. Critically, the Schakowsky plan accomplishes deficit reduction without making cuts to essential
federal expenditures that benefit the middle class or are crucial to future growth.

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T he recent sharp rise in the federal budget deficit is being used by many policymakers and political
organizations to urge America to travel the wrong path again and repeat almost precisely the tragic
errors of the past. This is alarming.

Background to Our Report

America today stands at a critical juncture. Despite the severity of the current economic crisis, the
nation has within its grasp the ability to right its economy and travel down a new road of prosperity and
opportunity for all. It can do what it often did before: choose a forward-looking, pro-growth set of policies
that rebuilds the economy and reignites the natural optimism and creativity of the American people. Or it
can repeat the costly mistakes of the past and adopt policies that ensure a decade of lost growth, jobs, and
business opportunities.
The recent sharp rise in the federal budget deficit is being used by many policymakers and political
organizations to urge America to travel the wrong path again and repeat almost precisely the tragic errors
of the past. This is alarming. The current deficit is less the result of national profligacy than of the recession
itself.
Three decades of economic mismanagement led to a completely preventable economic disaster. Tens of
millions of people are suffering due to the failures of economic policy. And the federal budget deficit began
to rise rapidly as tax revenues fell with incomes.
Emergency stimulus policies here and around the world broke the fall, but did not bring us to full
recovery. Today, the economy is growing only weakly. Eight million jobs were lost in the recession and
not yet regained. Consumers, having suffered huge losses in home values and retirement savings, are still
tightening belts to pay down debt and prepare for what they worry may be worse to come. The business
sector, uncertain about consumer spending yet with balance sheets top-heavy with $2 trillion of cash, is
reluctant to invest in expansion or job creation, leaving the economy trapped on a path of slow growth or
stagnation. Over 25 million American workers are now unemployed, underemployed or simply have given
up looking for a job.
Worse, this severe economic crisis follows a decade that witnessed the worst job creation in the post-
war period, growing inequality, a hemorrhaging of manufacturing jobs, and declining wages for average
working families. We do not nearly have a full recovery yet, but even “full recovery” is not enough. We
have to build a new foundation for long-term growth and prosperity.
Instead, fear over the short-term rise in the deficit is being used by many political leaders to encourage
austerity policies in Washington. They claim that such austerity – cutting public spending to slash budget
deficits – is the pathway to job growth and economic recovery. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, deficit spending now and sustained, affordable investments over the long term are necessary
to return the economy to self-sustaining growth. But the view has won influential converts. Earlier in
2010, President Obama created a National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform focused on
reducing deficits, and at least two privately financed and influential deficit commissions are attempting
to push the national discussion further in the direction of austerity. Sweeping gains in the recent election
for Republicans will raise the pressure to cut government spending. The right choices will ensure a future
of growth, jobs, and prosperity. But we are deeply concerned that the proposals such as the one prepared
by the deficit commission’s co-chairs could consign the nation to a lost economic decade while failing to
address the real cause of either past or future deficits.

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We must truly understand what has caused the current deficit and what is likely to cause future deficits
if we are to plan wisely for the future. Today’s deficit can be attributed to tax cuts, military spending, and
a recession caused to reckless and under-regulated bank behavior, while future deficits will be driven by
unchecked health care costs until we take further action now. Proposals such as that presented by the
deficit commission’s co-chairs fail to address the true causes of deficits, target areas that don’t cause deficits,
and propose actions that would damage the overall economy. The result would be less prosperity, even
fewer jobs, and lost tax revenue.
We have formed the Citizens’ Commission on Jobs, Deficits and America’s Economic Future to provide
clarity and leadership as we prepare to make momentous decisions. Our goal is to explain how deficits
arise, how they can be addressed effectively, and how to design a government budget that balances debt
concerns with a healthy and growing economy. We present practical and achievable alternatives to the
proposals currently being advanced by the deficit commission and similar groups. Out plan would restrain
the deficit at manageable levels by addressing its true causes, while preserving government’s vital role in
society and ensuring continued jobs and growth.
An Economy in Peril
Many current deficit proposals fail to
adequately recognize the weakness of the
American economy. A second recession
remains a highly realistic possibility. Given
the stressed finances of typical Americans,
the level of questionable debts that remain in
the financial system, and the misguided and
dangerous austerity policies being carried out
in other developed countries, like the UK, a
“double-dip” could again lead to crisis and a
sharp fall in incomes.
The job shortage provides a stunning
marker of the poor economic recovery. The
unemployment rate stands at 9.6 percent at
this writing. Together the unemployed and the
underemployed—Americans who want a full-
time job but can’t find one—equal more than
17 percent of the work force. We are neither
creating enough jobs to re-employ those who
lost them nor hiring all the new entrants in the
market. As noted, some 8 million payroll jobs were lost since the start of the recession at the end of 2007.
Another 3.5 million jobs were needed to provide jobs for those entering the workplace. The Economic
Policy Institute computed that the economy has to produce 300,000 jobs a month over several years to
return to the unemployment rate that preceded the recession.2 This requires a much faster rate of growth
than currently anticipated if the unemployment rate is to fall adequately in the next few years—on balance,
at least 3 percent a year.
The principal reasons for slow growth is the debt load carried by consumers and some businesses, the
loss in the value of housing and financial assets, which totals some $12 trillion, and the reluctance of the

2 Heidi Shierholz, “Fifteen months since recession’s official end, economy short 11.5 million jobs,” Economic Policy
Institute, October 8, 2010 , http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/september_jobs_picture/

8
banks to lend after the devastating losses of 2008, even while the banks now hold approximately $1 trillion
in cash reserves, most of which they obtained through borrowing at near-zero rates from the Federal
Reserve. Consumer debt levels still exceed 120 percent of their income. To reduce them to the levels of
2000 would require consumers to cut $3 trillion dollars of their debt. The nation’s savings rate is now rising
as consumers hunker down and pay off debt. This necessarily reduces consumption, and will continue to
suppress it. Consumption is the main driver of the economy in the short run.3 Given the widely accepted
“wealth effect”—that consumer spending is directly related to personal wealth-- the $12 trillion loss of
wealth alone could alone have cause a loss of $400 to $500 billion in purchasing power.
Meantime, the Obama recovery package has mostly been spent and will largely taper off by the end of
2010. Congressional hesitancy to maintain transfer payments such as unemployment insurance could also
restrain growth.
The financial system is also still fragile. The recent estimate of future bailout funding that will be required
by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is one example of the potential disarray another recession could cause is
the recent estimate of future bailout funding that will be required by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The
Federal Housing Authority concluded recently that the bailout would cost $6 billion at a minimum if
the economy recovers and housing prices begin to stabilize. If there is ongoing weak growth or another
recession, causing a continued decline in housing prices, the cost could rise to $124 billion.4 There are
similar, still larger potential catastrophes awaiting us in the private financial sector if there is another
recession.
Causes of the Current Deficit
In fiscal year 2009, ending September 30, the annual budget deficit tripled from its level in 2008 to
$1.5 trillion, or roughly 10 percent of the nation’s total gross domestic product. The annual deficit grew
somewhat in fiscal year 2010 as a share of GDP. The debt-to-GDP level rose to 60 percent, compared to 40
percent a short time earlier. The sudden, spectacular surge raised alarms about government spending and
was used by long-term advocates for fiscal austerity as proof of America’s fiscal irresponsibility.
But, as noted, the current level of federal budget deficits is not the result of long-standing national
profligacy. It is the result of the recession itself, which sharply reduced incomes (and therefore tax
revenues) and raised necessary spending on unemployment insurance, nutrition programs and similar
automatic stabilizers. In coming years, high budget deficits will also be the result of the tax cuts proposed
by President George W. Bush in the early 2000s and war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the Center
for Budget and Policy Priorities points out, these three factors account for almost the entire projected
budget deficit over the next 10 years (Figure 1)5. The deficit is simply not the result of spending on such
social programs as Social Security or Medicare.
Austerity advocates confuse two different issues—short-term deficits generated by the recession, the Bush
tax cuts and the war spending, with more disturbing long-term projections of deficits and debt driven by
rising health care costs. America does not have an entitlements crisis. America has a broken health care
system with excessive costs and inferior outcomes. Efforts to merely reduce public sector expenditures—
such as caps on Medicare and Medicaid spending, cutbacks in veteran’s health care, increases in out-of-
pocket health care costs, raising premiums or voucher systems—will undermine the effectiveness of these

3 Sherle R. Schwenninger and Samuel Sherraden, A Nation At Risk, New America Foundation, October 2010, http://
www.newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/policydocs/Recovery_At_Risk_Oct_2010.pdf.
4 Benjamin Appelbaum, “Fannie and Freddie: 3 Bailout Forecasts,” The New York Times, October 22, 2010, p. B1.
5 Kathy Ruffing and James R. Horney, “Critics Still Wrong on What’s Driving Deficits in Coming Years: Economic
Downturn, Financial Rescues, and Bush-Era Policies Drive the Numbers,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, June 28,
2010, http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3036

9
programs without lowering overall health costs. These measures would shift much more of the cost burden
onto individuals while failing to fix the fundamental defects in our system. The health care reform bill
passed earlier this year may be a first step towards repairing the health care system, but much more will
need to be done.
Any meaningful long-term deficit program must take an objective look at the flaws in our current system
and then act accordingly. That means taking advantage of the ability of publicly funded health insurance
to control overall costs, negotiating effectively, and thoroughly reviewing other techniques, such as all-
payer payment rates and evidence-based medicine, that may play an essential role in reducing costs while
protecting or even improving the quality of care.
Social Programs Are Not the Problem
Many observers carelessly combine Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security as principal causes of the
long-term deficit. Consider this statement by the Peterson-Pew Commission’s report, cited earlier: “…the
combination of population aging and growing health care costs will lead to an unprecedented expansion of
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security in particular. Under the Commissions’ fiscal baseline, these three
programs will likely grow from less than 8.5 percent of GDP in 2008 to 11 percent by 2018 and 17 percent
in 2038.”

M any observers The lumping together of the three programs is misleading and, in truth,
irresponsible. Social Security is an insurance program paid for by the
carelessly combine contributions of workers and their employers and the interest earned on
Medicare, Medicaid and Social the investment of the Social Security surplus. Most Americans would
probably be stunned to know that Medicare and Medicaid will account
Security as principal causes of the for 85 percent of the increase in these percentages, Social Security only
long-term deficit. The lumping 15 percent. In its June 2010 budget outlook, the Congressional Budget
Office concluded that,
together of the three programs
“If current laws do not change, federal spending on major mandatory
is misleading and, in truth, health care programs will grow from roughly 5 percent of GDP today
irresponsible. to about 10 percent in 2035 and will continue to increase thereafter.
Those projections include all of the effects of the recently enacted health
care legislation, which is expected to increase federal spending in the
next 10 years and for most of the following decade… Under current law, spending on Social Security is
also projected to rise over time as a share of GDP, albeit much less dramatically. CBO projects that Social
Security spending will increase from less than 5 percent of GDP today to about 6 percent in 2030. And
then it will stabilize at roughly that level.” 6
The increase of roughly 1 percentage point (1.3 percent, to be precise), may surprise readers but most of
the increased payments due to an aging population were already anticipated in reforms undertaken in the
1980s, mostly with the gradual increase in the retirement age to 67. The remaining gap is relatively easy
to close. In fact, raising taxes by 0.6 percent of GDP would do it because there are already Social Security
assets in a trust fund for future benefits.7
Yet the sudden rise in federal budget deficits has once again made Social Security the favorite target
of deficit cutters. Most of these would sharply reduce benefits for a large proportion of the elderly.
Retirement savings, including 401(k)s, into which many retirees were required to place their funds in

6 The Congressional Budget Office, “The Long-Term Budget Outlook,” June 2010, http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/115xx/
doc11579/SummaryforWeb_LTBO.pdf.
7 Ibid,. Chapter 3, http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/115xx/doc11579/06-30-LTBO.pdf

10
lieu of guaranteed pension benefits, have fallen sharply in value. More important, for most middle-class
households, the collapse of the housing bubble destroyed much of their home equity, for most the major
source of their wealth.
Social Security has played no role in our current deficit and will play only a minor role in the future. Even
under current projections, Social Security spending will rise by only one percent of GDP over the next
75 years without major changes. The Social Security program is forbidden by law from drawing on the
general budget, and the Social Security Trust Fund currently has a surplus of $2.6 trillion. Social Security
is supported by payroll taxes specifically imposed for its use and dedicated strictly for that purpose. The
baby boom population was already addressed in changes devised in 1983 by the National Commission on
Social Security Reform (led by former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and usually referred to
as the “Greenspan commission”) and incorporated during the Reagan presidency.
Ensuring long-term actuarial balance for Social Security is and should be a separate exercise from deficit
reduction, and can be accomplished with minor adjustments, which we describe later in this document.
Finally, it is critical to find new sources of tax revenues. The Bush tax cuts undermined the nation’s
ability to meets its obligations and invest in itself. Except for those Americans at the top of the income
distribution, they should be extended until the economic recovery is fully underway. Once the nation is
growing rapidly again, a variety of taxes can and should be thoughtfully raised to meet the nation’s needs
while maintaining its fiscal integrity.
The Wrong Direction
Some policymakers are using the recent sharp rise in the federal budget deficit to propose repeating
the tragic errors of the past. This is alarming. The current deficit was not caused by national profligacy
or excessive reliance on government. It arose after a decade of lavish tax cuts for the wealthy, a steep
increase in military spending and a severe recession brought on by unchecked speculation and inadequate
government regulation.
Emergency stimulus policies here and around the world broke the fall, but were not enough to bring about
a full recovery. Economic growth remains weak and the pace of job creation is far too slow. Eight million
jobs were lost in the recession, and job creation is barely keeping up with the pace of new entrants into the
job market. Consumers who suffered huge losses in home values and retirement savings are struggling to
pay down debt and prepare for what they fear may be worse to come. The business sector, uncertain about
consumer spending, is holding $2 trillion in cash reserves. Businesses are reluctant to invest in expansion
or job creation under current conditions, leaving the economy trapped on a path of slow growth or
stagnation. Over 25 million American workers are now either unemployed, underemployed or have simply
given up looking for work.
Worse, this severe economic crisis comes on top of a decade that witnessed the worst job creation in the
post-war period, growing inequality, the collapse of the manufacturing sector and declining wages for
average working families. We do not have a full recovery yet, but “full recovery” is not enough. We have to
build a new foundation for long-term growth and prosperity.
Instead, fear about the short-term rise in the deficit is being used by many political leaders to encourage
austerity policies in Washington. They claim that such austerity—cutting public spending to slash budget
deficits—is the only path to achieving job growth and economic recovery. We believe, and the economic
record demonstrates, that this is precisely the wrong approach. Deficit spending—especially sustained,
affordable investments—is urgently needed in the long-short term are to return the economy to self-
sustaining growth.

11
We understand there is a natural human response to tighten the fiscal belt when the nation’s budget deficit
rises. In the name of prudence and a misleading sense of self-discipline, however, the wrong policies are
already being followed again today. Austerity economics is discredited by history and unsubstantiated by
any new facts or theory. If the advocates of austerity now prevail, they will consign American citizens to
a decade or more of stagnating income, millions of lost jobs, social inequity, inadequate investment, and
deteriorating morale. (See Appendix I, The Danger of Austerity Economics.)
Despite the evidence, which we discuss at greater length later in this proposal, the austerity view has
won influential converts. Earlier in 2010, President Obama created a National Commission on Fiscal
Responsibility and Reform focused on reducing deficits. In addition, at least two privately financed and
influential deficit commissions are attempting to push the national discussion further in the direction of
austerity. Sweeping Republican gains in the recent election will increase the pressure to cut government
spending.
A premature emphasis on deficit reduction will slow, rather than stimulate, growth. It will increase
unemployment rather then put people back to work. This could well push our still-fragile economy back
into recession. It will lead to unnecessary and painful changes in America’s social safety net deficits. It will
short-circuit the investments vital to rebuilding America and erecting a new foundation for long term
prosperity, while failing to achieve the goal of meaningful deficit reduction.
Many in America—in government, in the media, and in business—fail to understand the causes of our
deficit concern, or the economic and political risks posed by the austerity approach. The current crisis is
occurring after a generation of disappointing economic performance for most Americans. Earnings have
grown at historically slow rates, stagnated or fallen for most working people, amid rapidly rising costs of
education and health care. The sense of insecurity over jobs and health insurance is widespread. Policies
that increase unemployment and cut cherished and necessary social programs will inevitably add to the
public’s increasing expressions of frustration and anger, emotions we’ve seen expressed at the ballot box
and in public demonstrations.
We are in a period of tenuous recovery which for many Americans is a time of great hardship. This is no
time to practice austerity. Austerity economics is pessimistic economics. It is based on fear not faith. We
must forge ahead as we have done time and time and again in our history.
We are not a poor nation. Despite what the austerity advocates say, we need not behave like one. We can
and will return to growth and prosperity, if we have the courage and resolve to pursue bold policies based
on wisdom and optimism.
Attacking the Root Causes of Deficits
The current deficit was not caused by Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. The record surpluses of the
1990’s were turned into large deficits by the Bush tax cuts and the cost of waging two wars. The effects
of this deficit spending were then made much worse by a devastating recession caused by runaway
speculation and inadequate government regulation. The recession created the need for major government
programs to repair the damage. These expenditures added significantly to the deficit, as did the loss of
revenue created by millions of lost jobs. The recession also led to a collapse of demand by consumers and
business,8 creating additional lost government revenue.
Over the next 10 years, anticipated deficits will similarly not be caused by rising costs of social programs.
Rather, the principal sources of the deficits, and growing public debt, remain the recession, war spending,
and the tax cuts of the early 2000s under George W. Bush.
8 The Obama stimulus package of roughly $800 billion technically added to the deficit but contributed to ending the
recession. Had it not been implemented, the deficit would be substantially higher in 2011 and 2012.

12
After 2020, however, the deficit will indeed grow rapidly, as will the level of federal debt. Assuming we can
succeed after 2020 in avoiding another financial meltdown similar to 2008-09, the central cause of large
federal deficits will be the rising costs of American health care. If we can reduce our health care costs to
levels similar to other rich nations, the U.S. Medicare and Medicaid benefits will grow at rates that will
not cause a significant long-term deficit problem. If we do not control our health care costs, the economy
will be devastated. Along with insuring a stable, well-functioning financial system through effective
regulations, we must focus our long-term concerns with fiscal deficits on reforming our health-care
system.
Investing in the Future
A robust and fast-growing economy with its benefits widely shared is the way to reduce budget deficits and
maintain fiscal strength. It is, indeed, the American way. Coupled with significant health care reform, such
robustness will enable us to enhance not erode social policies. And it will generate the funds necessary to
renew vigorous public investment, including in support of building a viable clean energy economy over the
next generation. These priorities have been badly neglected for a generation and we believe is essential if
the nation is to have a prosperous economy again.
Our objective is to show that doing so is entirely practical. We present a pro-growth plan to be put in place
in 2015 (provided there is sufficient recovery at that time) that will place sensible, sustainable ceilings on
the federal deficit and the level of debt-to-GDP while maintaining the nation’s social programs and also
raising public investment adequately to build the foundation the nation needs to maintain its prosperity.
America must reinvest in itself. After years of neglect, the nation requires rebuilding. Civil engineers grade
our infrastructure a C or a D. They say we must invest $200 billion a year to repair and update for a new
century.
College attendance levels stopped rising in the 1990s. Public education, in some cases good, is tragically
inadequate for too many young Americans, especially those who live in poorer neighborhoods. We are not
even doing the basics. For example, the nation has no accessible universal system of pre-school education
despite its vital importance to learning.
The nation’s dependence on fossil fuel energy cannot continue. Investments in energy efficiency—
including retrofitting our existing building stock, expanding public transportation and upgrading our
electrical grid transmission system—as well as in renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, and
geothermal power—can reduce that dependence. These and related green investment projects can also be a
major new engine of job creation in both the short and long runs.
This is not the place to summarize in depth America’s public investment needs. Our objective is to stress
that with careful management, we can meet them. Enough studies suggest that such investment can pay
for itself with faster economic growth.
There is no reason to believe that a 3 percent annual growth rate is the best we can accomplish. Even if it is,
we will do well. But if we invest adequately, we may be able to do better.

13
SOCIAL SECURITY: Keeping the Promise
Current deficit debate has focused too much attention on Social Security, which has no part in this
discussion. Social Security has played no role in our current deficit. The Social Security program is
forbidden by law from drawing on the general budget, and the Social Security Trust Fund currently has
a surplus of $2.6 trillion. Social Security is supported by payroll taxes specifically imposed for its use and
dedicated strictly for that purpose. Even under current projections, Social Security spending will rise by
only one percent of GDP over the next 75 years without major changes.
Under current projections, Social Security will be able to pay 75 percent of benefits after 2037. Yet,
seemingly against logic, many plans propose cutting benefits by an even greater percentage in response.
These proposals fail to address the source of this projected shortfall. An “aging population” is not the
cause, since the baby boom population was already addressed 1983 ‘s Social Security Act amendments.
The growth of the Social Security surplus since the Reagan administration was planned to help absorb
the retirement costs associated with the baby boom. The projected gap is the result of shifting income
distribution to the nation’s highest earners, a trend which began in the late 1980s and 1990s. This
concentration of wealth at the top, which was not anticipated by the Greenspan Commission or the
Congress in 1983, caused a smaller percentage of income to be covered

W e are deeply
concerned that Social
Security has become a target
by the payroll tax.9 Applying the payroll tax to a greater percentage of
income will fix any long-term problems with Social Security.
As we have said, long-term actuarial balance for Social Security can be
accomplished with minor adjustments. Increasing payroll tax to cover
when it does not contribute to 100 percent of wages would eliminate 95 percent of the projected long-
term shortfall. Proposals to provided additional funds by restoring
the deficit problem, while with estate taxes, taxing stock transfers (as Great Britain does), dedicating a
the real problem—health care, bank speculation tax to Social Security, or giving the Trust Fund more
investment flexibility could even permit increasing Social Security
which drives the nation’s long- benefits. Given the widespread loss of personal wealth caused by
term fiscal imbalances—is left the recent recession, a move of this kind could help ensure a robust
consumer economy in future years.
unresolved.
This is not the place to respond in detail to all the varying proposals to
cut Social Security benefits. But the one offered by Congressman Paul
Ryan as “modest” reform of Social Security is the leading example of the extreme dangers posed by these
benefit-cutting ideas. Ryan, as do others, would base future increases in benefits on inflation, not increases
in wages. But historically wages rise significantly faster than inflation.
Ryan and others argue that they will apply the new calculation based on prices to only those who earn
above a certain minimum wage. Thus, the claim is that it will only affect better-off Americans. In fact, the
proposal would cut benefits for tens of millions of middle-income workers such as schoolteachers and
firefighters. Ryan and others, claiming Americans now live longer, also would raise the retirement age
gradually above 67, also with profound effects on future benefits. But poorer Americans do not live nearly
as long on average as better-off Americans. The life expectancy of low-income women, for example, has
actually declined over the last quarter-century.10 Thus, lower income Americans would have their lifetime
benefits reduced by far more than others would.

9 See Bivens, L. Josh

10 Julian Cristia, “Rising Mortality and Life Expectancy Differentials by Lifetime Earnings in the United States,” Journal
of Health Economics, 28, 2009.

14
The Social Security System’s chief actuary finds that these two changes will ultimately reduce benefits for a
“medium” earner making about $43,000 a year by roughly 40 percent over time.
Ryan is by no means the only one recommending such proposals under the guise of moderate changes.
The report from scholars at the New America Foundation and the Brookings Institution, for example,
makes similar recommendations. So do many others.11
We are deeply concerned that Social Security has become a target when it does not contribute to the deficit
problem. We can only conclude that it seems to be an easy target, while with the real problem—health
care, which drives the nation’s long-term fiscal imbalances—is left unresolved.
As the Alliance for Retired Americans reminds us:
More than one-third of all people 65 and older rely on Social Security for 90 percent or more of
their income. Without Social Security, 55 percent of severely disabled workers and their families
would live in poverty; 47 percent of elderly households would live in poverty; another 1.3 million
children would fall into poverty; and 2.4 million grandparent-headed households caring for 4.5
million grandchildren would be deprived of the most important source of income going to these
grand-family households.12

11 MacGuineas and Galston, op. cit, http://crfb.org/blogs/my-view-maya-macguineas-and-bill-galston.

12 http://strengthensocialsecurity.org/sites/default/files/FactSheet-Social%20Security%202010%20Facts%20and%20
Figures.pdf

15
HEALTH CARE: THE KEY TO LONG TERM FISCAL
AND ECONOMIC HEALTH
A Crisis in the Making
Health care costs are greatest single obstacle to long-term deficit reduction. The magnitude of this problem
cannot be overstated. The following CBO chart tells the story:
Alternative Fiscal Scenario
40
Actual Projected

30
Revenues
Medicare and Medicaid
20

Social Security
10
Other Federal Noninterest Spending

1962 1972 1982 1992 2002 2012 2022 2032 2042 2052 2062 2072 2082

These costs, if unchecked, are a long-term financial catastrophe that threatens both government solvency
and the entire U.S. economy.
No deficit plan is meaningful unless it takes bold steps to address this problem. While the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was a good first step, much more remains to be done.
If uncorrected, Medicare and Medicaid costs will exceed those of all other government spending in the
next 25 years. When it comes to long-term deficit reduction, health care is the problem. Attempts to
balance the budget merely by cutting the portion of these costs paid by government will fail, exacting an
enormous human toll in the process.
A Broken System
The United States differs from that of all other developed nations in its reliance on private-sector,
employer-sponsored health insurance. Other differences include regulatory structure, provider payment
systems, and physician compensation levels. The results are plainly visible in the chart (Figure 2):
The United States spent 16 percent of its GDP on health care in 2007, far higher than the average of 8.9
percent spent by other developing countries, and will continue to lead the pack in forty years. This cost
isn’t explained by age differences, as many people assert, since the U.S. has a smaller elderly population
(as a percentage of the total) than Europe or Japan13. The conclusion is plain: If the U.S. spent the same
percentage of its GDP as the typical developed country with universal coverage, it would have no long-
term deficit problem.
Shifting the Cost Isn’t the Answer
Many of the current deficit reduction proposals being discussed (e.g. Bowles/Simpson, Rivlin/Domenici)
substitute cost-shifting for cost reduction. Spending caps, premium increases and additional out-of-
pocket costs for patients do not address the global cost problem.14 They merely shift these costs to elderly

13 Pearson, Mark. Written Statement to Senate Special Committee on Aging. OECD, September 2009.
14 Many private-sector health plans relied heavily on a RAND Corporation study which suggested that patients who

16
 32.7%
individuals who will often lack the means
Government Health Care Spending to pay for them. In some cases, these
As A Percent Of GDP in 2050 cuts will also shift costs from the federal
government to the states by increasing
25.0% 25.6%
Medicaid costs for low-income seniors
21.1% 21.4% (so-called “dual eligibles”).
18.2%
16.0% Harming the Health of Seniors
12.9% 13.0% 13.5% In cases where cost-cutting measures
are successful in reducing government
expenditures, they exact a toll in human
suffering that countries with more fiscally
prudent programs find unnecessary.
Studies have shown that the elderly will
SWE AU CAN UK JPN AUS SPN NOR GER US reduce their use of certain health services
Note: Numbers rounded. if out-of-pocket costs rise15. But the same
Source: Authors’ calculations based on Laurence Kotlikoff and Christian Hagist, studies have found an increase in hospital
“Who’s Going Broke?” National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper
No. 11833, December 2005, p. 25. use, which suggests a severe health
impact of some older Americans. It is not
clear that recent proposals have considered the added cost of hospitalization in their savings estimate.
Added Hardship for Older Americans
The elderly already spend a greater percentage of their income on health care16 than other Americans. One
study17 showed that a retired couple aged 65 can expect to pay $197,000 in lifetime out-of-pocket costs,
and a private financial firm18 estimated that elderly health care costs rose 56 percent between 2002 and
2010. It is reasonable to question whether proposals that would add to this burden through cost-shifting
are fair or humane, especially when the same proposals would also reduce Social Security retirement
benefits for the same population. The sharp increase in bankruptcies among the elderly19 only underscores
the dangers and hardships these proposals present, since Social Security is the largest source of income
for both men and women over the age of 6520.
Less Purchasing Power Means Less Growth
Under these proposals, older Americans will bear an increasing percentage of skyrocketing costs. That
will deprive them of funds needed to pay for food, housing, and other goods. That will have a depressive
effect on economic growth, as cash-strapped seniors pay less for goods and services as they struggle to
meet increasing medical bills.

paid more in out-of-pocket cost for their care reduced medical usage with no adverse health effects. That study has
come under recent challenge, however, and excluded the elderly. and other studies focusing on elderly populations
offer convincing evidence that these measures are counterproductive for elderly populations.
15 See Chandra, A; Gruber, J; and McKnight, R. Patient Cost-Sharing, Hospitalization Offsets, and the Design of Optimal
Health Insurance for the Elderly. NBER Working Paper, 2007. See also Goldman, D et al. 2006.
16 Desmond, K. et al. Medicare Issue Brief. Kaiser Family Foundation. September 2007. Cost ratios have shifted due to
reforms after the paper was written, but it is assumed that the elderly still pay a greater portion of income on health
care.
17 Center for Retirement Research, Boston College
18 Fidelity Investments
19 See, for example, Thorne, Warren, Sullivan. The Increasing Vulnerability of Older Americans: Evidence From the
Bankruptcy Court. Harvard Law and Policy Review, 2009.
20 See Hartmann, H, and Lee, S. Social Security: The Largest Source of Income ... IWDPR Pub D455.

17
The Wrong Priorities
We find that many deficit proposals include some useful ideas but fail to address long-term costs. Indeed,
they mostly kick the can down the road. Bowles and Simpson, for example, simply suggest that Congress
“consider” the public option if their ideas fail. While their acknowledgement of this idea’s importance is
laudable, their priorities are backward: They propose to start the process with counterproductive cost-
shifting measures while deferring cost-saving measures.
The Bowles/Simpson plan’s strongest cost-cutting proposals involve steep reductions in provider payments,
which will have a dislocating effect when a) many providers refuse to serve Medicare enrollees and b)
providers shift the lost revenue onto private insurers. Their tort reform proposal will likely have some
effect on costs, but not as much as many people believe. The alleged costs of “defensive medicine” are far
less than typically assumed, so the savings will not be significant.21
A package that relies on caps, premium increases and other cost-shifting techniques will impede growth,
cost jobs and impose painful hardship while failing to address the underlying problem.
A Better Health Care Plan
Our proposal addresses costs in a comprehensive way:
Implement public option health plan. Create a truly robust public option plan that is available to all
Americans, without the restrictions to access proposed earlier this year.
Annual Savings: $35 billion22
Establish a Medicare Part D public plan to compete with private plans. The legislation that created
the “Part D” drug program mandated that drug benefits be offered only through private companies
(“nongovernmental entities”). A Medicare drug plan should be established to compete with private-sector
plans. Annual Savings: $6 billion23
Pharmaceutical Negotiations. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs pays 58 percent less for prescription
drugs than Medicare24 because it is not prohibited by law from negotiating with pharmaceutical
manufacturers. That prohibition should be lifted for the Department of Health and Human Services, which
should then be directed to immediately begin direct negotiations with pharmaceutical companies.
Annual Savings: $40 billion25
Study additional cost-saving options. Implement high-level studies of additional cost-containment /
quality-improvement measures such as evidence-based medicine and all-payer programs through grants
to the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and
other agencies and private research firms. Cost/Savings: To be determined.
Medicare for All. Lastly, we should set cost containment targets and target dates for health cost reduction
that apply to both private and public spending. Such global spending targets will assure that costs are not
simply shifted from the public to the private sector. Cost containment goals should be set, with target dates

21 See Mello, M. “Defensive medicine” accounted for 2.4% of health care costs. This practice will never be fully
eliminated. While it can and should be reduced, too much reliance should not be placed on this approach.
22 Lewin Group, “Cost Impact Analysis for the ‘Health Care for America’ Proposal,” February 2008, http://www.
sharedprosperity.org/hcfa/lewin.pdf, 12.
23 Per Schakowsky proposal
24 No Bargain: Medicare Drug Plans Deliver High Prices. Families USA, 2007.
25 Gellad, Walid et al. What if the Federal Government Negotiated Pharmaceutical Prices for Seniors? An Estimate of
National Savings. J Gen Intern Med. 2008 September; 23(9): 1435–1440 (expanded for all populations and consistent
w/Dean Baker estimate) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2517993/

18
for achieving them. If these targets are not met, work should begin on cost-benefit and implementation
studies of “Medicare for All” and other more robust options for controlling health costs.
Cost/Savings: To be determined.
Setting Achievable and Balanced Targets
The president’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has set a goal of eliminating
the primary deficit (before interest expense on the debt) by 2015. Meeting this arbitrary target will likely
damage the recovery and even increase deficits. We believe we can assure fiscal sustainability in a more
constructive way. But the deficit reduction we propose should not begin until the economic recovery
brings the nation much closer to full employment. This is not likely to occur until 2014 or 2015 under the
best of circumstances.
The most important question is this: What will drive economic growth, job creation and widely shared
prosperity in the years to come? Conservatives argue that we should simply reduce deficits and wait for
the next economic boom. But the last economic expansion rode on a bubble, inflated by unsustainable
household debt and financial speculation.
President Obama has called on us to build a new foundation for the economy. This requires making
investments vital to our future—in education and training, in research and development, in a modern
infrastructure for the 21st century. It requires ending our addiction to oil, and capturing a lead role in the
green industrial revolution, creating the next generation of green jobs.
It also means ensuring that the new Dodd-Frank financial regulations
are implemented in effective ways, to prevent the return of excessive
speculation and financial bubbles as our dominant engine of economic
T he president’s fiscal
commission has set a
goal of eliminating the primary
growth.
Study after study demonstrates that America has a huge “public deficit by 2015. Meeting this
investment deficit” in areas vital to our economy. Some estimates
arbitrary target will likely
suggest a shortfall in public investment of as much as $500 billion a year
in traditional infrastructure and the green economy. As long as we have damage the recovery and even
unacceptably high unemployment, outlays for additional investment can
increase deficits. We believe we
easily be deficit-financed. But even once we achieve a robust recovery,
our country can pay for productive public investment by borrowing can assure fiscal sustainability in
moderately.
a more constructive way.
We must have the confidence to forge our future. At the end of World
War II, the U.S. was burdened with debt that totaled over 120 percent
of GDP. But we made the investments vital to a new economy—the GI
Bill, housing subsidies, the Interstate Highway System, the conversion of military plants, and the Marshall
plan. We did not adopt austerity economics. We ran modest annual deficits over most of the next two-and-
a-half decades and the debt grew in absolute size, but the economy and the broad middle class grew faster.
By 1970, the debt had been reduced to 35 percent of GDP. The better way to reduce the deficit as a percent
of GDP is to increase GDP.
Taking the high road to fiscal balance
We believe there are three essential guidelines for America’s future budget policy.
The right way—in fact, the only way—to guarantee the nation’s fiscal sustainability, in the short run and
the long run, is by creating jobs, not destroying jobs. The most fiscally responsible path requires substantial
fiscal stimulus now. A new round of spending cuts will be self-defeating. The fiscal stimulus should also

19
be accompanied by vigorous monetary and credit market policy measures to encourage private-sector
spending in job-creating investments.
In the long run, the central concern for Americans is rapidly rising health care costs and their impact on
Medicare and Medicaid. Health care in America must be reformed significantly over time. Social Security
is not contributing to the deficit and can be made solvent with modest changes, an exercise that should not
be part of deficit-reduction efforts.
The nation’s long-term economic growth, and therefore its fiscal balance, can only be sustained by serious
public investment in education; transportation infrastructure; energy-technology development; and
scientific, technological and medical research. These publicly financed investments create jobs and provide
the necessary conditions for future rapid economic growth.

20
THE RIGHT PRIORITIES
Our first priority is to place the current economic recovery on a firm footing and to return GDP to its full
potential. The short-term deficit is not the nation’s most pressing concern, a stalled economic recovery is.
Meeting the new fiscal commission’s arbitrary goal to eliminate the primary deficit by 2015 could result in
slower growth and higher unemployment than is being forecast now by the Congressional Budget Office.
The spending cuts and tax increases to meet this target will start to be phased in no later than 2012, a point
at which all projections show the economy will still be well below its potential output.
The nation’s long-term budget deficit beyond 2025 poses a serious danger. It must be dealt with, however,
by correcting its true causes, the most important of which are rapidly rising health care costs.
Social equity and the provision of capabilities to all American to lead full lives should not and need not
be sacrificed in order to solve the deficit problems. Our social contract should not be dismantled as part
of a crusade for austerity. The workers’ right to organize, which enhances productivity and wage growth,
should be strengthened, not weakened. In particular, Social Security benefits can be retained and perhaps
even enhanced.
Balancing the federal budget will not produce the robust growth our country needs over the long term.
For that we will need to finance a substantial program of public investment, including transportation
infrastructure, green energy technologies, education and scientific research. We can indefinitely tolerate
a moderate deficit of 3 percent of GDP to meet our social and investment needs beginning in 2015 if
economic conditions are strong at that point. This deficit level will enable the nation to stabilize ratio
of debt-to-GDP at the debt-to-GDP level likely that that point, roughly 70 percent. This compares with
current levels of debt to GDP of 190 percent in Japan, 72 percent in Germany, and 78 percent in France.
The Short-Term Picture
We have used the budget projections of the Office of Management and Budget, which takes into account
to take into account the
continuation of most of
Federal Budget Projections, 2010-2020
the Bush tax cuts (for the Fiscal Year Deficit-to- Debt-to- Revenues/ Outlays/ GDP Jobless
non-wealthy) and a three- GDP ratio GDP GDP GDP Growth Rate
year freeze on discretionary 2010 10.6 63.6 14.8 25.4 3.0 10.0
spending. 2011 8.3 68.6 16.8 25.1 4.3 9.2
2012 5.1 70.8 18.1 23.2 4.3 8.2
The CBO estimates, 2013 4.2 71.7 18.6 22.8 4.2 7.3
with OMB adjustments, 2014 3.9 72.2 19.0 22.9 3.9 6.5
that the economy will 2015 3.9 72.9 18.9 22.9 3.4 5.9
grow moderately in 2016 3.9 73.6 19.3 23.1 3.1 5.5
real terms. Even under 2017 3.7 74.2 19.4 23.1 2.7 5.3
these assumptions, the 2018 3.7 74.9 19.5 23.0 2.6 5.2
unemployment rate will not 2019 3.9 75.9 19.5 23.7 2.5 5.2
fall below 6 percent until 2020 4.2 77.2 19.6 23.7 2.5 5.2
2015. The federal budget
deficit will be 4 percent of GDP in 2014 and onwards.

21
This projection may overestimate growth. The unknowns about the currently unusual state of the economy
make the outlook especially uncertain and unlikely to conform to historical patterns. A balance-sheet
recession caused by excessive debt has historically taken longer to right itself than more typical recessions.
Slow economic growth in the last six months already appears to cast the CBO forecast in doubt.

It is important to understand how much the reduction in deficits depends on growth. A premature turn
to deficit reduction will surely reduce the very growth that the projections rely on, with continued mass
unemployment reducing projected revenues, and increasing outlays. Austerity could easily result in higher
deficits, not lower ones.26
Jobs programs are a key element of any plan to invest in growth. These programs can take the form of
direct government hiring, government contracts with private companies and other initiatives.
Such a fiscal stimulus may also appropriately include a policy to encourage banks to lend. The Federal
Reserve is about to embark on another round of quantitative easing to reduce longer-term interest rates.
But the danger as always is that without adequate demand for goods and services, lowering interest
rates will not alone encourage more borrowing—known as “pushing-on-a-string.” There is a clear and
immediate need for well-designed government programs to encourage greater bank lending, both to

A
small/medium businesses and to individuals.
premature turn to
One approach would be to combine two initiatives—one carrot and
deficit reduction will one stick—to deliver both lower rates and diminished risk levels for
surely reduce the very growth businesses. The carrot is an expansion of existing federal loan guarantees
by $300 billion, which would roughly double the amount total annual
that the projections rely on, with
guarantees. Small businesses should be the primary beneficiaries. The
continued mass unemployment stick is a 1 percent to 2 percent tax on the excess cash reserves now held
by banks, to push the banks to become more bullish on loans for job-
reducing projected revenues, creating investments.27 Total costs of the program—resulting mostly
and increasing outlays. Austerityfrom loan defaults—would almost certainly be well below one percent
of the federal budget. Having said this, we recognize a serious stimulus
could easily result in higher of up to $500 billion a year is unlikely to be passed by Congress. To
deficits, not lower ones. the contrary, austerity economics, and the recent Republican victories,
may result in spending cuts well before the economy returns to solid
growth. If this is the case, that is all the more reason for Congress and
the Federal Reserve to vigorously pursue measures to encourage private-
sector borrowing and lending in support of job-generating private investments.
The presidential fiscal commission’s objective is to eliminate any primary budget deficit (the deficit before
interest rate expenses) by 2015. The current projection is for a substantial primary deficit in 2015.28 The
co-chairs of the deficit commission have suggested that spending cuts should not begin until the economy
is strong enough to absorb them, but their proposals will result in recommendations for rapid cuts in

26 A reasonable estimate is that a well-focused stimulus of $500 billion a year over two years, or somewhat more than
3 percent of GDP a year, will create some 4-5 million jobs. This will reduce the unemployment rate by up to 3 percent
by 2012 or 2013 to close to 5 percent. The unemployment rate can continue to fall by 0.5 percent as the economy
sustains its growth. We believe a well-constructed stimulus plan designed to produce the maximum number of
jobs should focus on transfers to the unemployed, aid to the states, and some new infrastructure and green energy
projects, and limit cuts in taxes.
27 Robert Pollin, “Austerity is not a Solution,” Challenge, November-December 2010. Features of this proposal have
been supported by a wide range of commentators, including former Federal Reserve Vice Chair Alan Blinder (Wall
Street Journal 11/16/10, and former Reagan economic advisor Bruce Bartlett (Los Angeles Times, 11/14/10)
28 Private projections by the CBPP.

22
Budget Projections Show Deficits and Debt
Growing Rapidly As a Share of GDP Through 2050
Other Total Debt Held by
Social Program Program Surplus (+)/ Public
Security Medicare Medicaid Outlays Outlays Revenues Interest Deficit (-) (End of Year)
2000 4.2% 2.0% 1.2% 8.7% 16.1% 20.9% 2.3% +2.4% 35%
2010 4.8% 3.1% 2.0% 14.1% 23.9% 15.6% 1.4% -9.7% 62%
2019 5.2% 4.1% 2.0% 8.7% 20.0% 17.8% 4.3% -6.4% 86%
2030 5.9% 6.2% 2.6% 7.8% 22.5% 18.0% 7.0% -11.5% 141%
2040 5.9% 7.8% 3.3% 6.9% 23.8% 18.0% 10.8% -16.6% 218%
2050 5.7% 8.9% 3.9% 6.0% 24.5% 18.2% 15.6% -21.9% 314%
Source: Center for Budget and Policy Priorities calculations based on CBO data.
spending too soon. The early November proposals of the co-chairmen, in fact, recommend cutting as early
as 2011 and 2012. The recommendations of the Peterson-Pew commission may be even more damaging.
They seek to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio to 60 percent by 2018. According to the Center for Budget and
Policy Priorities, this would require cutting the deficit severely in too short a time, an onerous goal without
serious tax increases, in our commission’s view. The Peterson-Pew Commission also claims it would wait
until the economy is back on track. Again, this will not likely be honored. The Peterson-Pew Commission’s
persistent drumbeat for austerity has had enormous influence in Washington to the point that added
stimulus now is virtually impossible.29
A Better Approach: Short-Term Investment And Long-Term Balance
We offer the following workable plan to meet our spending goals and retain fiscal stability in the longer
run. It is one of many possible permutations with the same general objective: to reach a stable level of debt-
to-GDP that does not rise over time.
We have established 2015 as a target date, based on the strength of the economy at that point. In the event
that the economy grows faster than expected (which is likelier if more stimulus funds are provided), it is
possible that deficit cutting could begin even sooner. Note that the projections in Table 1 show that the
amount of public debt as a proportion of GDP held by the public rises to slightly about 70 percent in 2015.
The federal budget deficit is roughly 4 percent at this point (the CBO projects it slightly higher).
We believe we can readily reduce the projected deficit in 2015 on balance from 4 percent to 3 percent with
a package of spending cuts and tax revenues even as we increase government investment substantially by
2.5 percent of GDP a year. Arithmetically, if the deficit remains at 3 percent and nominal GDP growth
equals 4.75 percent, a very reasonable assumption, the debt ratio will remain at roughly 70 percent.30
Thus, through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, we can reduce the projected deficit,
given our increase in public investment, by 4 percent. We believe we can readily cut spending by a total
of 1 percent, or even 1.5 percent, should the deficit be higher than we anticipate in 2015—that is $150
billion to $225 billion in 2015. This can be accomplished with substantial cuts in military spending,
already proposed by some, as well as the early stages of health care reform and reductions in other wasteful
government expenditures.
To finance the rise in government investment of almost 3 percent of GDP, we would raise tax revenues
29 Kathy Ruffing, Kris Cox, and James R. Horney, The Right Target: Stabilize the Deficit, January 12, 2010, http://www.
cbpp.org/files/01-12-10bud.pdf.
30 The tolerable deficit is equal to the growth of GDP divided by the new level of GDP, multiplied by the debt-to-GDP
level. In this case, .7 (.045 divided by 1.045) = 0.3.

23
by the equivalent, or $450 billion in today’s economy. We specify such tax sources in the Summary of
Recommendations section.
Long-Term Spending
Farther into the future, deficit and debt projections become both less certain and more grim. The pace of
growth, the distribution of income and taxes, the effect of health care reforms, and the possibility of wars
or recessions make any projections fanciful. But, with a shared sense of rough assumptions, most analysts
suggest that by 2030 and beyond, the deficits could rise to well over 100 percent of GDP, and eventually far
higher, if new policies are not put in place. In Table 2, below, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
(which is slightly more pessimistic about future tax revenues than the CBO), projects that American debt
will equal more than 200 percent of GDP in 2040 and more than 300 percent in 2050. The Peterson-Pew
Commission makes similar projections.
By far, the largest components of the projected explosion of debt are government health care programs and
the rise of interest payments on the growing debt that is created by them. Very quickly, Americans will be
borrowing more just to pay interest, as interest on interest grows rapidly. The level of interest on the debt is
highly sensitive to whether the levels of debt can be arrested far sooner. We believe they can.
In short, if health care spending can be contained, the interest paid annually will be sharply contained. We
therefore propose a mix of continued health reforms, building on those recently enacted, that will address
this fundamental cause of long-term deficit concern.
Moving Forward
In conclusion, our proposal combines a balanced program of increased tax revenues with judicious
spending cuts, a plan to return the financial sector to its rightful role as lender while ending the threat it
poses to recovery, and a plan to address the long-term threat posed by health care spending. The specific
details of our proposal follow.

24
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
Immediate Investment in Job Creation and Economic Recovery
Implement a two-year accelerated investment program to create jobs, spur economic recovery, and
build the foundation for long-term growth.
In the coming two years, the federal government should undertake a $500 billion per year program of
investments that spur rapid growth and job creation. $100 billion per year of this total should go to states
and localities to prevent layoffs and service cuts that are threatening to harm economic recovery. During
this two-year period, these investments should not be “paid for” by revenue increases or budget cuts. The
goal of these expenditures should be get unemployment down.
Provide aid (in the next two years) to states to prevent layoffs of teachers, policy, and other critical
workers, and to keep the economy growing.
Objectives: Prevent layoffs for 500,000 workers and avoid painful cuts in social services, law enforcement
and other state programs in states that are constitutionally required to balance their budgets. This will
prevent a huge and destructive drag on the national economy. 
Pass the Local Jobs for America Act.
Objectives: New jobs for Americans in cities and towns, increased hiring and prosperity for their
communities.31
Extend unemployment insurance.
Objectives: Support for the long-term unemployed and their families; increased consumer activity (food,
housing, etc.), providing additional revenue for jobs in the community.
Extend Federal Medical Assistance Percentages and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs.
Objectives: Less disease and contagion; reduced suffering; less use of costly emergency health services,32
more economic activity in communities.
Total Per Year (2011 and 2012) Cost, $500 billion: $400 billion in Federal program investment. $100 billion
in emergency aid to states.
Budgeting For Balance In 2015
1. Long-Term Investment in Rebuilding America
By the year 2015, provided that unemployment is below 5.5 percent, the country should be able to fund an
expanded program of public investment in the range of close to 3 percent of GDP. That equates to $450
billion in today’s economy and as much as $550 billion in 2015. To be conservative, we have restricted our
proposal to $450 billion in added investment for 2015. These investments (both short term and longer
term) should include:
Rebuild the national infrastructure.
Objectives: New jobs in construction, manufacturing, and support industries; restoration of bridges,
highways, road, and other infrastructure. Generate additional private sector job growth in supplier
industries and in businesses in communities where work is done.
Added investment in long-term growth. Areas of targeted investment should include education, research
31 See Schakowsky, Jan (etc)
32 As proposed by Schakowsky, Jan

25
and development, public transit, and broadband access.33
Objectives: New jobs for teachers, researchers, auto workers, transit and communication workers;
improved ability to compete in 21st Century economy; private sector job growth in supplier industries and
in businesses in local communities. Investment in green technologies will create new “green jobs” and will
go far to move the U.S. economy off of foreign fuels and create good jobs for millions of Americans, while
getting us on the road to reversing climate change. Annual Public Investment Cost: $450 billion
in 2015
2. New Revenues – For Deficit Reduction, Fairness, and Investing in the Future.
Increase overall tax revenues with a set of reforms that end excessive benefits for the wealthy, protect the
middle class, add jobs, promote growth, and ensure tax fairness. We propose a set of revenue increases
and other tax changes that would raise approximately $500 billion in 2015, while protecting the financial
security of all Americans. Proposals are listed below with estimated 2015 costs and savings.
End Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.
Revenues: Already included in Obama
budget projections.
Financial Speculation Tax. A tax on financial transactions of 0.25-0.50 percent on all transactions would
have two benefits. It would reduce the speculation that led to the last recession and contributed to the
current deficit, and it could raise an estimated $130 billion a year.34
Revenues: $130 billion.
Establish a Surcharge on Top Earners. Revenues: $53.2 billion.
Tax capital gains and dividends as normal income. Revenues: $88.5 billion.
Cap Use of Itemized Deductions at 15 percent and Expand Charitable Giving Credit.
Objectives: Revenues for deficit reduction, job creation and investment; support additional charity giving.
Revenues: $87.9 billion.
Additional proposals regarding corporate income and dividends.35
Revenues: $112 billion.
Enact an Estate Tax with a Progressive Schedule of Marginal Tax Rates (per Sanders/Whitehouse bill).
Revenues: $4.5 billion.
Establish a Cap and Trade or Carbon Tax. Revenues: $52 billion.
Repeal tax subsidy for mergers and acquisitions. Revenues: $5 billion.
Increase the Motor Fuels Tax.
Additional Objectives: Decreased use of fossil fuels. Revenues: $33 billion
Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Objectives: Help working families escape poverty, increase spending to stimulate the economy and create
33 See America’s Economy: A Budget Blueprint for Economic Recovery and Fiscal Responsibility published by Demos,
EPI and The Century Foundation on November 29. for additional detail
34 Baker, Dean, Robert Pollin, Travis McArthur, and Matt Sherman. 2009. “The Potential Revenue from Financial
Transaction Taxes.” Joint Working Paper 212, Center for Economic and Policy Research and Political Economy Research
Institute, www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/working_papers/working_papers_201- 250/WP212.pdf
35 ibid.

26
jobs. Cost: $1.6 billion.
Make the Child Tax Credit Fully Refundable Cost: $4.2 billion
Permanently Extend the Making Work Pay Tax Credit.
Objectives: Tax savings for 96 percent of households, stimulating the economy through purchase of goods
and services. Cost: $36 billion.
Total Net Revenue Increases: $524.3 billion
3. Targeted Cuts to Federal Expenditures
We are proposing a package of cuts that targets wasteful spending, excessive subsidies, inefficiencies, and
programs that subsidize corporate activity overseas.
Reduce defense spending per Rep. Barney Frank proposal. Savings: $110.7 billion.
Eliminate Market Access Program for overseas corporate advertising.
Savings: $1 billion.
Eliminate Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). Savings: $0.15 billion.
Reduce farm subsidies. Savings: $7.5 billion.
(The following recommendations and those that follow are per Rep. Schakowsky proposal36:)
Implement GAO Recommendations to Reduce Improper Payments
Savings: $5 billion
Sell excess federal property Savings: $1 billion
Reduce unnecessary printing costs Savings: $0.4 billion
Other efficiencies Savings: $1 billion
Total Savings: $126.75 billion.
4. Added Reforms to Reduce Health Costs and Improve Medical Care
We propose to address health care costs, the single greatest threat to fiscal stability and economic growth,
with a bold program that reduces the increase in costs while improving medical quality, personal choice,
and overall economic health.
Implement public option health plan. Immediately address runaway health care costs through the
establishment of a truly robust public option plan; This plan should be available to all Americans, and not
limited to those who eligible for health insurance exchanges under current law.
Savings: $35 billion.37
Establish a Medicare Part D public plan to compete with private plans. The 2003 legislation that
created the “Part D” drug program explicitly excludes any “nongovernmental entity” from offering a
prescription drug plan. We propose (as does Rep. Jan Schakowsky) to allow Medicare to administer this
benefit without the use of private-sector intermediaries.
Savings: $6 billion..38
36 Schakowsky, Rep. Jan.
37 Lewin Group, “Cost Impact Analysis for the ‘Health Care for America’ Proposal,” February 2008, http://www.
sharedprosperity.org/hcfa/lewin.pdf, 12.
38 Per Schakowsky proposal

27
Pharmaceutical Negotiations. Direct HHS to begin direct negotiations with pharmaceutical companies
for Medicare and other government health programs. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs pay 58 percent
less for prescription drugs than Medicare39, despite serving a much smaller population, because it is not
prohibited by law from negotiating with pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Savings: $40 billion40
Increase research on additional cost-saving options; set target dates for further action. Implement high-
level studies of additional cost containment /quality improvement measures, including but not limited to:
Evidence-based medicine, all-payer programs, state-level initiatives. Primary funding should be conducted
through increased grants to the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services, and other agencies and private research firms.
Cost/Savings: To be determined.
Medicare for All. Lastly, consideration should be given to setting cost containment targets and target
dates for health cost reduction. If these are not met, work should begin on assessing the cost/benefit of
“Medicare for All,” opening Medicare to all Americans age 55 and older, and other additional options.
Cost/Savings: To be determined
Total Health Care Savings: $81 billion.
Total net savings from cuts and health cost
reforms: $207.75 billion
Net effect of investment/revenue/spending cuts plan
We have proposed a package of revenue increases, together with some targeted additional tax credits, that
will increase 2015 tax revenues by $524.3 billion. Those revenues, when combined with our proposed
spending cuts of $207.5 billion, lead to savings of $732 billion dollars. We have proposed additional
investment of $450 billion, leaving a net savings of $282 billion.
Under our plan, the nation would be able to provide $450 billion by 2015 to finance our long-term
investment needs, while at the same time more than offsetting a primary budget deficit (deficit without
interest costs) that will is currently estimated to approach $250 billion in 2015.
The Long Term
Looking forward, we propose that the nation commit to gradually reducing the deficit-to-GDP ratio over
the next decade, with a target of 3 percent of GDP. This target is potentially achievable by 2015, and could
be met no later than 2020. This would allow us to stabilize the ratio of debt to GDP at a manageable 70
percent while protecting government’s ability to fulfill its social role.

CONCLUSION
We have shown that it is possible to invest in short-term growth and achieve primary balance, while at the
same time creating jobs, promoting growth and remaining fiscally responsible. We can also set long-term
targets for spending and expenditure ratios that are balanced and rational.
We believe that these proposals express both the wishes of the American people and the economic realities
we face as a nation. It is our sincere hope that they will help provide a meaningful alternative to the narrow
range of opinions and options currently dominating the policy debate.
39 No Bargain: Medicare Drug Plans Deliver High Prices. Families USA, 2007.
40 Gellad, Walid et al. What if the Federal Government Negotiated Pharmaceutical Prices for Seniors? An Estimate of
National Savings. J Gen Intern Med. 2008 September; 23(9): 1435–1440 (expanded for all populations and consistent
w/Dean Baker estimate) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2517993/

28
APPENDIX I: The Danger of Austerity Economics
Despite the fact that government action, inadequate as it may have been, has barely gotten the economy
growing again, our country has just gone through an election in which the loudest and most politically
successful voices were shouting for radically inconsistent policy changes: “Cut government spending! Slash
entitlements! Extend tax cuts! Balance the budget! Revive job growth!”
We are aware that the outcome of the recent election means that the government austerity now being
advocated is more likely to take firm hold and weaken rather than strengthen the economy. The Obama
economic team had already proposed freezing domestic discretionary federal spending at current levels
for three years. But more to the point, Congress is not likely in today’s political environment to pass any
new spending programs to stimulate the economy, so influenced are politicians and the media by austerity
rhetoric funded and driven by special interests.
Unfortunately, President Obama has further encouraged austerity economics by creating the Commission
on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The commission’s recommendations are due by December 1. The
Senate majority leader promises and up-or-down vote on them by year’s end. The early release of the
proposals of the co-chairs in November was disheartening. The proposals call for a rapid reduction in
budget deficits and a low ceiling on future federal outlays. They yoked harsh cuts in social programs,
including Social Security and Medicare benefits, with calls for sharp cuts in income tax rates on all income
classes, including the rich. They would close tax loopholes to compensate for the lower tax rates, but
these are unlikely to be passed. It remains to be seen whether the entire commission or President Obama
endorse such policies, but the very fact they were sent up as a trial balloon in mid-November is disturbing.
As we have said, our commission believes that the country needs another strong dose of public spending
designed to create jobs, increase consumer demand, and therefore provide the customers that American
businesses, large and small, need to justify making investments in new plant and equipment. We would
also argue that sustained investment is vital to create the new conditions for a competitive economy.
We believe citizens should educate themselves and speak out in favor of growth-oriented policies that
can take our country forward and against policies that will be damaging to future growth and that could
cripple safety-net programs.
Here is what the public has to know about the ineffectiveness and dangers of austerity economics.
Some Basic Economic Truths
When a nation falls into recession, it is not the same as a family incapable of paying its bills. A family can
spend less to meet its financial obligations, but when most families in a nation spend less at the same time,
they reduce the very demand for goods and services companies make and produce that is the lifeblood
of the economy. Reduced sales result in job cuts, retrenchment of investment, and weakened risk-taking
and entrepreneurialism. The national economy spirals downward as fear of more lost jobs leads to less
spending by consumers and less investment by business, further reducing sales which leads to another
round of lost jobs, reduced consumption, and investment cutbacks. It is often called a vicious circle.
Especially when the economy falls into a deep recession, the only recourse to stem the tide is government
spending to regenerate demand for the goods and services business sells. This is Keynesian stimulus,
first proposed in a formal analysis by the economist John Maynard Keynes. Such initiatives must then be
combined with effective monetary and credit-market policies to further encourage private investments.
Our Own History
This is what happened in the Great Depression. In the early 1930s, fear of too much government spending

29
led to a tepid response to the devastation of falling production, failing banks, and soaring unemployment.
Even Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran for the presidency on a platform to balance the budget, despite a drop
in the nation’s gross domestic product of 50 percent and an unemployment rate of 25 percent. But when he
got into office in 1933, he responded vigorously to the alarming events with new job programs, financial
regulations and public investment. Meanwhile, after making similar contractionary errors, the nation’s
central bank, the Federal Reserve, also reversed policy.
The result was that GDP rose rapidly over four years and the unemployment rate dropped by more than
half. Because the federal government was relatively small then, however, it could not spend enough to
return national income to its pre-Depression levels quickly. Annual federal budget deficits never rose
above 6 percent of GDP.
By 1937, the forces of austerity again dominated the public discourse. The Federal Reserve tightened
monetary policy and the Roosevelt administration cut spending amid new higher taxes. The result was a
severe economic downturn. Government spending to finance the war effort created the needed demand
to put America to work again and rise from the Great Depression once and for all. The spending also
revitalized and modernized key manufacturing industries. Few economists now disagree with this analysis.
Federal budget deficits soared during World War II, and the total debt required to finance the war reached
more than 120 percent of GDP by the mid-1940s. The U.S. did not revert to austerity; rather, government
expanded its role. The economy grew in the 1950s and 1960s at a rate of 4 percent a year on average,
discounted for inflation. That growth generated better jobs, higher incomes and more tax revenue. The
level of debt to GDP fell rapidly.
Some economists argue that repeating this performance may not be possible. But we do not have to. Even
if the U.S. grows at 3 percent a year, a rate widely agreed to as possible, the nation’s borrowing can be kept
at manageable levels without giving up social benefits or more vigorous public investment.
Crowding Out, Business Uncertainty, And Other False Arguments To Discredit Fiscal Stimulus41
The central argument advocates of austerity make is that increased government borrowing will result in
higher interest rates and “crowd out” private borrowing. As one of the new private deficit commissions, the
Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform puts it, higher rates, “can ‘crowd out’ private investments
and make it more costly to borrow money for everything from housing to education to business
investments. As higher interest rates choke off investment, productivity growth will rise more slowly (or
even fall), and the country’s standard of living will suffer.”42
But there can only be crowding out when the economy is running at or near its full potential—that is,
when labor, equipment, factories, and stores are close to being fully employed. Business will not invest
fully, even when it has the funds, unless it requires more capacity. The Congressional Budget Office
estimates the GDP is now 6 percentage points below its potential to produce goods and services—what it
could produce without generating inflation.43
Another widespread claim with no credibility is the theory that since government spending must be
paid for eventually, Americans, fearing inevitable tax hikes, will not spend but increase their savings to
prepare for the coming taxes. The government spending will then have no stimulative consequences.
41 “Robert Pollin presents a good summary of these issues, “Austerity is Not a Solution,” Challenge, November-
December 2010.
42 Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform, “Red Ink Rising: A Call to Action to Stem the Mounting Federal Debt,”
December, 2009, http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Economic_Mobility/40543%20
FR_R1.pdf
43 Dean Baker, The Myth of Expansionary Fiscal Austerity, CEPR, October, 2010, http://www.cepr.net/documents/
publications/austerity-myth-2010-10.pdf

30
This claim, which economists call “Ricardian equivalence,” is disputed by many economists and has not
been born out empirically. To the contrary, a wide range of studies show that there is a positive impact on
economic growth of such spending—what is known as a positive multiplier. If it seems to the casual reader
preposterous that such spending would be precisely offset by savings, it is because it likely is.44
Still another frequent concern now raised is that rising budget deficits have made business too uncertain
about economic prospects to invest.45 Business allegedly worries about future tax increases to pay down
deficits and uncertain new regulations on business. But what drives business confidence is more business
itself—that is, strong sales. Ironically, in the last year, capital investment has strengthened as the economy
recovered. But if growth falters, as it appears likely, confidence and investment will again fall together, no
matter how low interest rates are.
Finally, government interest rates are indeed now very low. Right now, three-month Treasury bill rates
have been below 0.25 percent for two years. The rate on five-year Treasury bonds has been trading below
3 percent and occasionally below 2 percent in the same period. These low rates leave wide room for
government financing now with no fear of crowding out. If and when they turn up, they will do so when
the U.S. economy recovers and nominal GDP rises, meaning increases in tax revenues to cover the higher
interest costs.
Austerity Does Not Work: The Evidence
It is remarkable that so many economists and budget analysts will casually claim that fiscal austerity in the
past has resulted in rapid economic growth for many nations. For example, a report from scholars at the
Brookings Institution and the New America Foundation states, “Some believe that fiscal discipline would
reduce the rate of economic growth. Again we disagree. The evidence from the United States in the 1990s,
as well as from many European countries in recent decades suggests that implemented prudently, a plan
for fiscal restraint could actually promote long-term growth.”46 The Peterson-Pew Commission makes a
similar unqualified claim, noting that 10 countries have reduced their public debt dramatically as a percent
of GDP. The principal argument is that cutting spending will reduce interest rates and stimulate investment
and consumer spending.47
A recent careful study by the International Monetary Fund clearly shows, however, that in cases where
fiscal austerity was explicitly undertaken—that is, government spending was cut—GDP was reduced as a
consequence. As The Financial Times economics columnist Martin Wolf put it, the study “demolishes the
arguments for ‘expansionary contractions.’”48 Cutting spending will slow growth and reduce investment, as
Keynes predicted; falling interest rates may cushion the blow but not reverse the decline. The IMF found
that a fiscal contraction of 1 percent of GDP would cut GDP itself by 0.5 percent in each of the next two
years. What’s more, in the current environment, as Wolf pointed out, interest rates are so low there will be
no such cushion to soften the blow because they can’t fall lower.
Why do some studies produce other results? As the IMF and other commentators have noted, they do
not isolate spending cuts but rather focus on rising or falling deficits and levels of debt, regardless of
the causes. Increases or reductions in deficits can be caused by the business cycle itself, for example, not
44 See Hemming, Richard, Richard Kell, and Selma Mahfouz. 2002. “The Effectiveness of Fiscal Policy in Stimulating
Economic Activity—A Review of the Literature.” IMF Working Paper 02/208, http://cartac.org/Userfiles/file/L-5.1.pdf
45 Niall Ferguson, a historian, expands on uncertainty as the major danger. “Today’s Keynesians Have Learnt Nothing,”
Financial Times, July 20, 2010, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/270e1a6c-9334-11df-96d5-00144feab49a.html
46 Bill Galston and Maya MacGuineas, “The Future is Now: A Balanced Plan to Stabilize Public Debt and Promote
Economic Growth,” October 23, 2010, http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2010/0930_public_debt_galston.aspx
47 Peterson-Pew, op.cit.
48 Martin Wolfe, “Britain and America Seek Different paths From Disaster,” The Financial Times, October 19, 2010,
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/10dabd3a-dbba-11df-a1df-00144feabdc0.html.

31
specific efforts to raise or cut spending.
Moreover, aside from the effects on their economies of the business cycle itself, the nations alluded to by
Brookings and New America and cited specifically by the Pew-Peterson were not remotely in the same
circumstances as the U.S. is today. The American economy is operating far below its capacity compared
to the examples cited. And most of these nations had been growing strongly. In fact, the International
Monetary Fund paper from which Peterson-Pew and others drew their evidence (an older study than
the one cited above) stated this clearly. It is “much easier to run stronger primary surpluses when growth
is higher,” the authors wrote.49 All the nations also generally had high interest rates, so surpluses could
sharply reduce borrowing costs to stimulate growth. (In the case of Canada’s 1990s austerity program, the
government sharply devalued the currency, thus stimulating exports and growth.)
Brookings and New America cite the U.S. in the 1990s as an example of successful austerity. Aided by
a 1992 tax increase to cut deficits, the U.S. grew rapidly and produced a budget surplus. But again the
circumstances were far different than they are today. Alan Blinder and current Federal Reserve vice
chairman Janet L. Yellen took pains in a later book to show that this performance was not likely repeatable.
It was dependent on unusual factors, including, most importantly, high interest rates that were the result
of bond market participants’ irrational concerns about rising inflation. This meant that interest rates
could fall far in response to a commitment to fiscal austerity. To repeat, today’s rates are very low and have
almost no room to fall.50
A leading scholarly paper advocating austerity by Harvard economists Alberto Alesina and Silvia Ardagna
became the centerpiece of the battle. But the IMF shows the research methodology was ambiguous, to be
kind. Again, it did not take examples of deliberate fiscal tightening but of cyclically adjusted changes in
deficits. Even The Economist wrote that the Alesina and Ardagna research was, “deeply flawed.”51
Goldman Sachs international economists also did a recent study of nations that belong to the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development that made fiscal adjustments by cutting spending. The
Goldman economists found that improvements in the fiscal balance resulted in lower interest rates, higher
stock prices and more capital investment. The result was above average economic growth for three to five
years.
Once again, however, the examples were not applicable to America today, as the Center for Economic
Policy Research showed in its own analysis of the Goldman research. In those nations where outright
spending cuts were employed, they all were operating closer to full capacity than the U.S. today and they
had much higher interest rates, so falling rates could compensates for any decline. Moreover, most of these
situations in which growth improved took place when the worldwide economy was growing rapidly and
these small countries, dependent on trade, could take advantage of rapidly growing exports.
In sum, economists’ intensive attempts to demonstrate the efficacy of austerity have generally failed, except
in times when growth was already strong. The IMF study in particular is a damning refutation of the
claims made by many policy leaders today and reinforces the efficacy of Keynesian economics.

49 Carlo Cottarelli and Joes Vinals, A Strategy for Renormalizing Fiscal and Monetary Policies in Advanced Economies,
International Monetary Fund, Sept. 22, 2009,
50 Alan S. Blinder and Janet L. Yellen, The Fabulous Decade, Macroeconomic Lessons from the 1990s, Century
Foundation, 2001.
51 Alberto Alesina and Silvia Ardagna. “Large Changes in Fiscal Policy: Taxes Versus Spending”, by NBER Working Paper
No. 15438, January 2010. Arjun Jayadev and Mike Konczal. “The Boom, Not the Slump: The Right Time for Austerity.”
Challenge Magazine, November–December, 2010. The International Monetary Fund, “Will It Hurt? Macroeconomic
Effects of Fiscal Consolidation”. Chapter 3, “World Economic Outlook,” 2010. The Economist, “Cutting Edge, Does Fiscal
Austerity Boost Short-Term Growth, A New IMF Paper Thinks Not,” September 30, 2010, http://www.economist.com/
node/17147618?story_id=17147618.

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APPENDIX II: Members of the Citizens’ Commission on Jobs, Deficits
and America’s Economic Future
Robert L. Borosage is the co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future and president of the Institute
for America’s Future. Previously, Borosage founded and directed the Campaign for New Priorities. In
1988, he was senior issues advisor to the presidential campaign of Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Dean Baker is the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. He has authored many
books; his latest is “Taking Economics Seriously.” He appears frequently on TV and radio programs and
writes for his blog, Beat the Press.
Deepak Bhargava is the executive director of the Center for Community Change. He conceived and led
the center’s work on immigration reform, which has resulted in the creation of the Fair Immigration
Reform Movement (FIRM), and has worked on numerous other issues including affordable housing,
welfare and healthcare.
Angela Glover Blackwell is the founder and president of PolicyLink, a national research and action
institute advancing economic and social equity. She is the co-author of “Searching for Uncommon
Common Ground: New Dimensions on Race in America,” and serves on the boards of the Children’s
Defense Fund, Levi Strauss and Co., and the Corporation for Enterprise Development.
Jeff Blum is the executive director of USAction, a grassroots organization active on such issues as
affordable health care, high quality public education, strong environmental policies and fair taxation.
Darcy Burner is is the executive director of ProgressiveCongress.org and the Progressive Congress
Action Fund, responsible for strategy and management of the organizations. She ran as a candidate for
Washington’s 8th congressional district in 2006 and 2008.
Larry Cohen is president of the 700,000-member Communications Workers of America. Cohen also
chairs the AFL-CIO Organizing Committee and is the founder of Jobs with Justice. He was also a founder
of American Rights at Work.
Teresa Ghilarducci is a labor economist, professor at The New School, the Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz
Chair in economic policy analysis and director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. She
has authored many books, most recently, “When I’m Sixty Four: The Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to
Save Them.”
Heidi Hartmann is the President of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, which she founded in 1987
and is also a Research Professor at The George Washington University. She is Vice-Chair of the National
Council of Women’s Organizations and co-editor of the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy.
Mary Kay Henry is President of the Service Employees International Union. She was named one of the
nation’s “Top 25 Women in Healthcare” for 2009 by Modern Healthcare. Henry began working with the
SEIU in 1979.
Rob Johnson is the executive director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and is a regular
contributor to the Institute’s blog NewDeal2.0. Johnson has served as chief economist of the Senate
Banking Committee and was senior economist of the Senate Budget Committee.
Joan Kuriansky is the Executive Director of Wider Opportunities for Women. She chairs the National
Coalition on Women, Jobs and Job Training and serves as an advisor to the Institute on Women’s Policy
Research and the Washington Area Women’s Foundation Portrait Project.
Robert Kuttner is co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect magazine and distinguished senior

33
fellow at the think tank Demos. He writes columns in The Boston Globe and The Huffington Post and is
the author of eight books, most recently “A Presidency in Peril: The Inside Story of Obama’s Promise, Wall
Street’s Power, and the Struggle to Control our Economic Future.”
Jeff Madrick is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books and is currently editor of
Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at The Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the
Roosevelt Institute and the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, The New School. His latest
book, “The Case for Big Government,” was named one of two 2009 PEN Galbraith Non-Fiction Award
Finalists.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux is the president of Bennett College for Women. She is an economist, author and
commentator whose articles have been published nationally. Currently, Malveaux serves on the boards of
the Economic Policy Institute, The Recreation Wish List Committee of Washington, DC, and the Liberian
Education Trust.
Terry O’Neill is president of the National Organization for Women. She is also president of the NOW
Foundation and chair of the NOW Political Action Committees, and serves as the principal spokesperson
for all three entities.
Robert Pollin is professor of economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His recent books include “A Measure of Fairness: The Economics of
Living Wages and Minimum Wages; An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for Kenya.”
Robert Reich is chancellor’s professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He
has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill
Clinton. He has written thirteen books, including “The Work of Nations,” “Locked in the Cabinet,”
“Supercapitalism,” and his most recent book, “Aftershock.”
Sen. Don Riegle served as a Democratic senator from Michigan from 1976 to 1995. He served on the
Senate Budget Committee for 18 years, the Finance Committee for eight years, the Labor and Human
Resources and the Commerce committees for a number of years, and the Banking Committee for 18 years
(six as chairman).
Charles Rodgers is president of the New Community Fund. He is a director of the West End House
Boys & Girls Club of Allston-Brighton, trustee of The Institute of Contemporary Art, the Heller
School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, the Massachusetts Institute for a New
Commonwealth, and the Democracy Alliance.
Justin Ruben is the executive director of MoveOn.org. He oversaw the “Call for Change” campaign in
2006. In 2008, he supervised the email organizing component of MoveOn’s electoral program, which
turned out a million MoveOn volunteers for the Obama campaign.
Karen See is president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the national women’s organization
within the labor movement. Prior to becoming president in 2009, she served for two years as CLUW’s
membership and field organizer.
Deborah Weinstein is the executive director of the Coalition on Human Needs. She has had a career of
over 30 years of advocacy on a wide range of issues at both the state and federal level, including nine years
as director of the family income division at the Children’s Defense Fund.

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